Thales Solidarity programme
Our mission: demystifying STEM and inspiring vocations
Thales, world leader in high technology, is at the heart of the world's major scientific innovations (deep tech, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum, etc.).
Through the prism of its activities and its various businesses, the Group observes every day the essential role that science and technology play in human progress and the world’s sustainability.
However, vocations for scientific and technical careers are not up to the challenge, and we still deplore a certain lack of curiosity and knowledge among the general public.
Our conviction is that progress in this field must be inclusive and benefit the entire population. In other words: scientific and technical careers should be accessible to all. Through our Thales Solidarity programme, we aim to promote science and technology to all communities, particularly those that are the most distant from it.
How ? By supporting young students’ careers and inspiring vocations through the STEM for All programme, and by raising young students’ awareness of STEM (especially the most excluded) through employee commitment.
STEM for All: our grant and mentoring programme
Thales Solidarity’s new programme, titled STEM for All (STEM for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) aims at supporting youth undertaking studies in scientific fields and fostering vocations in these fields.
Every year, Thales Solidarity is committed to awarding the STEM for All prize to 50 first-year students (University, post-secondary school, technical diploma, preparatory class, university technology diploma...) in STEM, from underprivileged backgrounds, and with outstanding and inspiring academic achievements.
The winners will receive financial support in the form of a 5,000 euros grant, and will be accompanied for a year by Thales mentors, true 'Vocation Makers,' who will provide students with a keen understanding of what it means to work in a company and in the STEM fields.
Do you want to apply for the STEM for All programme? Applications will open in January 2025, stay tuned!
Employee commitment
Thales Group, with its 80,000 employees, represents a true wealth of knowledge in both STEM and other fields. The Thales Solidarity programme facilitates the commitment of employees, who are keen to share their know-how and experience of the Group's various businesses, by offering different ways of mobilizing.
Employees can get involved in two ways:
- by sharing their skills through volunteer missions or end-of-career sponsorship,
- by taking part in solidarity initiatives such as the MicroDON payroll giving programme (‘Arrondi sur salaire’) in France, one-off fund-raising events or donations in kind on Giving Tuesday.
Volunteer engagement
Our employees are encouraged to share their skills in STEM with young people and distant public. They are also invited to support young people in their schooling and career orientation.
Some examples of missions that Thales employees can get involved in:
Supporting a young person from a disadvantaged neighborhood with Proxité (France)
The aim is to restore his self-confidence so that he can believe in his future. Together with their godchild and the Proxité referent, the employee defines the objectives to be achieved and a roadmap, then meet with them every week for a year.
Becoming an Elles Bougent sponsor (France)
Elles Bougent is an association that encourages young women to choose careers in industry and technology. More than 500 female Thales employees share their experience with young talents by giving talks in schools or inviting pupils and students to Thales establishments.
Running a Future of Tech workshop (France)
This workshop, run by the Latitudes association, raises awareness among middle and high school students of the issues and professions involved in the digital world through a two-hour immersive workshop. Through a collaborative card game, teenagers are invited to ask themselves questions about their digital uses, to understand their social and environmental impacts, and to adopt responsible practices.
Becoming a Technovation mentor or jury member (North America, Mexico, Europe)
Technovation Girls is an international competition that encourages girls aged 10 to 18 to develop their innovative skills and interest in technology. Working with mentors, they learn in teams to code and design mobile applications to provide solutions to their community and global challenges. A final event celebrates the best solutions and teams, chosen by a local jury.
Support primary school pupils' participation in the ‘If you were an engineer, what would you do’?
Organized by Primary Engineers, the competition invites pupils aged 3 to 19 to imagine what problem they would like to solve if they were an engineer, and to create an engineer's drawing and letter to explain their ideas and inventions. Thales employees are invited to talk to the class about their profession, to inspire them, and then to help judge the entries.
MicroDON payroll giving programme ("Arrondi sur salaire') in France
Employees in France can take part in the payroll giving programme, an innovative fund-raising tool that allows them to donate cents from their salary, with an option to donate up to 10 euros each month, to support an associative project. Thales supports them by matching their donations. The amounts collected are paid in full to the beneficiary associations chosen by the employees.
On the principle of small streams making large rivers, micro-donations added together represent a source of funding of several thousand euros for the beneficiary projects, which are selected following a Group employees’ survey.
For more information on the associations supported through the payroll giving programme, please refer to the ‘Partners and projects’ section below.
Local solidarity actions
Giving Tuesday, the global day of generosity, solidarity and commitment, has been celebrated within the Thales Group since 2021, on November’s last Tuesday: every year, nearly 50 sites in more than 10 countries organize solidarity activities such as food drives, collections of hygiene products, toys, clothing, or even books for the needy, as well as meetings with solidarity associations.
Throughout the year, numerous collections of financial or in-kind donations are organized in various countries, involving several thousand employees and benefiting local associations such as Asthma + Lung in the UK, Cravate Solidaire in France and Toys for Tots in the USA.
Partners and projects...
... financed by the Thales Solidarity Charitable Fund
Consortium Jeunesse Senegal
The Thales Digital Women Fellowship project supports fifteen young women from disadvantaged areas of Dakar, Senegal, over the course of 2023/24, in their efforts to achieve socio-professional integration through the acquisition of professional digital skills. Launched in 2021, it is being run by the Thales Learning and Culture department (contributing with its pedagogical expertise) together with the Polaris association operating in Senegal.
Semer l’avenir - École de la Transition Écologique (ETRE) (School for Ecological Transition in English)
Semer l'Avenir, École de la Transition Écologique, supports young people who have dropped out of school, on the margins of society. The Digigreen programme has enabled to train seven young people, for three months, in ecological transition professions using digital tools.
e-Enfance
e-Enfance promotes the protection of children on the Internet and education in digital citizenship. The application and French national number 3018 supports young victims of digital violence and those around them (family, teachers, etc.). The project supported by the Thales Solidarity Charitable Fund has enabled to further develop and reinforce the application’s ability to help young victims in receiving rapid and comprehensive care.
Latitudes
Latitudes encourages the use of technology to serve the general interest through programmes that raise awareness and involve individuals and organizations altogether. The Future of Tech project aims at raising awareness among 4,000 middle and high school students on responsible practices and digital professions, by the means of a two-hour immersive workshop.
Antipodes
The Antipodes association runs Under the Pole, an underwater exploration program combining scientific research, education and R&D. The Capsule project aims at deploying the great depth underwater habitat and revolutionizing the observation of marine environments by facilitating diving and increasing possible study time.
...financed by the MicroDON payroll giving programme in France ('Arrondi sur salaire')
Bibliothèques sans Frontières
In France and in over 30 countries, the association creates innovative cultural and educational spaces (notably the Ideas Box, a media library kit), enabling people affected by crises and precariousness to learn, entertain themselves, create links and build their future.
Coeur de Forêt
‘Coeur de Forêt’ develops reforestation programmes, promotes fair trade and helps local producers switch to sustainable agriculture, offering an economic alternative to deforestation.
e-Enfance
e-Enfance works in France to protect children on the Internet and promote digital citizenship by raising awareness among young people and parents and by training professionals. e-Enfance also operates 3018, a French national number and mobile application for young victims of cyberbullying.
Planète Urgence
Planète Urgence aims to empower women and men to preserve forests and biodiversity. The Planète Education project trains elementary school teachers in Benin and Madagascar to raise environmental awareness among their pupils.
Pour un Sourire d’Enfant
The association runs a tutoring program to offer skills training to the most disadvantaged children, thus helping to prevent them from dropping out of school.
Secours Populaire Français
The association works to combat poverty and exclusion in France and around the world. It works in a number of key areas, including food, clothing, housing, healthcare, professional integration, access to culture and, more generally, access to rights.
Télécoms sans Frontières
Télécoms Sans Frontières, an NGO specializing in emergency response technologies, helps people affected by humanitarian crises to contact their loved ones, and builds rapid response communication centers for local and international responders.
Latitudes
Latitudes encourages the use of technology to serve the general interest through programmes that raise awareness and involve individuals and organizations altogether. The Future of Tech project aims at raising awareness among 4,000 middle and high school students on responsible practices and digital professions, by the means of a two-hour immersive workshop.
La Main à la pâte
The mission of the ‘Fondation La Main à la pâte’ is to improve the quality of science and technology education in primary and secondary schools. For the past 30 years, the association has been promoting active science learning to stimulate the curiosity and imagination of all pupils, while helping them acquire solid scientific knowledge and skills.
... supported by various entities across the Group
In France
Article 1
The Article 1 association helps young people from working-class backgrounds to succeed, from orientation to professional integration. It uses both digital and face-to-face methods (individual and group support as well as web platforms).
Elles Bougent
The mission of ‘Elles Bougent’ is to promote gender diversity in industrial and technological companies by encouraging girls to choose technical professions. It puts female mentors in touch with schoolgirls and female students to promote scientific and technical professions, and demonstrate that these careers are accessible to women.
In Brazil
Fundação Iochpe
Thales has teamed up with Fundação Iochpe to implement an inclusive vocational training program for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the Sao Paulo region, with the support of employee volunteers.
In the United Kingdom
Primary Engineers
Primary Engineer creates programmes for young people and teachers to develop their skills and commitment to science and technology. The association organizes the ‘If I was an Engineer competition’, which invites primary and secondary school pupils to identify a problem in the world around them and propose a technical solution.
The Smallpiece Trust
The Smallpeice Trust offers teachers and students in local schools a variety of ways to get involved in STEM activities, including hands-on workshops and events showcasing STEM careers.
In the USA and Mexico
Technovation
Every year, Technovation organizes an international competition, for girls aged 10 to 18, aimed at developing their innovation and leadership skills and encouraging them to take an interest in the technology sector. Working with mentors, teams learn to code and design mobile applications to solve the challenges facing their communities.
